"Absolutely not!" Prince Zuko said. He slid his duo swords into his belt.
Katara pouted. "But why?" His Royal Pig-headedness insisted on following their latest lead alone, even though she was the one who received the tip.
Someone had slipped Katara a note while she was in the bathhouse that morning. The note was from someone who called himself the Blind Bandit and claimed to have information about who'd tried to poison Mai. The Blind Bandit's instructions were to look for the badger mole in the Cave of Two Lovers.
"I'm not bringing you to a... place like that."
The Cave of the Two Lovers was a notorious pleasure house in Caldera's entertainment district, and Katara sometimes heard the men at court speak about it. It catered to the more unusual desires of the capital's nobility.
"Is that the place with the squid girl?" Katara giggled behind her sleeve. At a party last month, she and Mai overheard two of Prince Zuko's friends, Lord Chan and Lord Ruon-Jian, telling him about a place where they have a girl who sits in a tank of water and embraces a live squid.
The tips of Prince Zuko's ears turned pink. "Do you even understand what that means?"
"Of course I do." Katara might be an innocent flower from the Lotus Villa, but she wasn't wholly ignorant and had an imagination. "Unlike Mai."
They sang a popular drinking song called The
Lazy Bargemen at that party. When it was Mai's turn to finish the line, "and I've never..." with the most outrageous thing she could think of, she sang, "and I've never hugged a squid," not suspecting it referred to depraved goings-on at a pleasure house. Her innocent blunder raised eyebrows and made a few people spit out their drinks.
"You're not coming with me, and that's final." Prince Zuko put his foot down. He grabbed a blue and white demon mask from off the wall. Noblemen often wore such masks to hide their identities when visiting the entertainment district.
Rain pitter-pattered on the windowsill. Katara smiled. No, Prince Zuko, it isn't final.
She grabbed his umbrella and followed him out onto the villa's porch.
The Prince huddled underneath his cloak. He was about to turn around to return inside when Katara opened the umbrella and held it over his head. "Forget something?" she said. Prince Zuko blinked at her. "Remember, you're useless on rainy days." When the weather was damp, firebenders couldn't use their powers. What if he ran into trouble? What if this Blind Bandit was an assassin?
"I'm also a trained swordsman." Prince Zuko touched the hilt of one of his swords.
Katara raised her free hand to execute the most impressive bending form she'd learned. She bent the raindrops into a protective bubble over Prince Zuko's villa. The bubble popped, and she froze the water into hundreds of daggers, slicing off nearby tree branches. "And I'm a water-bending master."
Prince Zuko's jaw dropped.

Katara put on a servant's livery and accompanied Prince Zuko into the entertainment district disguised as his page. She held the umbrella over them while he led the way through the narrow, winding streets lined with tea houses, theaters, and brothels with the ease of a frequent visitor.
"You seem to know your way around here," Katara said.
Prince Zuko blushed like a maiden. Like most young men of his class, he probably visited courtesans when he wasn't courting Mai. Katara rolled her eyes. He would have her to deal with if he didn't cut it out after he and Mai were married.
"This is the place," Prince Zuko said. He pointed down a stone walkway to what looked like an aristocratic townhouse built around a central garden. As they approached the entrance, he put on his mask. Katara closed the umbrella once they were out of the rain.
The hostesses bowed to Prince Zuko. He wasn't tall, but the dignity and command he carried himself with made up for his lack of height. His high birth and breeding were apparent even if his identity wasn't. "Welcome, young master," the hostesses said. They looked Katara over. Despite Katara's male clothing, with her hair pulled back and hidden under a hat, they could tell she was a girl.
"A private room for you and your...companion?" said one of the hostesses.
Katara looked down and tittered. Did they think she was a trampled flower Prince Zuko picked up off the street?
Prince Zuko fidgeted. "We're here to see the Blind Bandit," he said. He showed the hostess a calling card depicting a winged boar that had come with the Blind Bandit's note.
"Oh." The hostess shared a look with her cohort. "This way, please." She brought Zuko and Katara down a corridor to a small but luxurious sitting room that opened onto the courtyard garden.
A young girl of about thirteen or fourteen sat atop a daybed. She wore a yellow and green silk dress and her hair in an elaborate bun, but her feet, dangling over the front of the day bed, were bare and caked with dirt. The girl didn't look up when they entered the room.
"Excuse me," Prince Zuko said. "We're looking for the Blind Bandit."
The girl turned toward them. She was quite pretty, with a delicate, doll-like face. A milky film clouded her large, green, sightless eyes.
"I think she is the Blind Bandit," Katara told Prince Zuko.
"That's impossible. This child couldn't be him."
"Who said that the Blind Bandit had to be a he." Katara laughed at herself for never having considered it.
The Blind Bandit snorted. Her mouth curled into a mischievous smirk. "Sweetness is right." She planted her grubby feet on the carpet and wiggled her toes. "The Blind Bandit, at your service."  Prince Zuko winced when she punched him in the arm, apparently her idea of a friendly greeting.
"Pleased to meet you." Prince Zuko rubbed his bicep.
A priceless porcelain decanter sat on the end table. The Blind Bandit felt around for it, then poured herself a drink. "You're slick, Sparky, aren't you?" she said. "Having one of your girlfriends help you dig up dirt about your other girlfriend's poisoning."
Zuko and Katara both flushed and vehemently denied that Katara was Zuko's girlfriend.
Katara huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Mai is my friend. I would never..."  Some friend she was, being at a pleasure house with Mai's fiancé.
"Jeesh." The Blind Bandit emptied her cup in one sip. "I was just teasing."
Prince Zuko sized her up. The tiny girl was one of the few people he could physically intimidate. "With all due respect, My Lady, could you cut to the chase and tell us why the hell you asked us to come to this den of sin."
"No need to be rude, Your Highness." Katara put a hand on Prince Zuko's arm. For his own sake, he shouldn't get into a fight with the Blind Bandit, who seemed like she could, despite her dainty frame, ground him into the carpet.
"Why should I be polite to this little gremlin?"
"Your Highness!"
The Blind Bandit giggled. "You two sound like my parents." She sat on a floor cushion and bid Katara and Prince Zuko to do the same. "Very well, let's cut to the chase as Sparky put it."

Prince Zuko had questioned the kitchen staff and gathered up bits of court gossip to try and piece together what had happened to Mai. Each person he'd spoken to was quick to place not unwarranted blame on the head pastry chef and his staff. Though they were responsible for Mai almost dying, Katara's heart went out to them. The head pastry chef and his staff were now in prison, awaiting their execution by hanging for their negligence. A worse sentence had been given to whoever had switched the currants for aconite berries: having their arms and legs broken and drowned in a jar of wine.
"I check the records of the whole kitchen staff," said Prince Zuko as a servant, a pleasant-looking young man wearing his hair in an Earth Kingdom queue instead of a Fire Nation topknot, brought them cake and wine. "Two pastry cooks from the Earth Kingdom were hired about a year ago. Lee and Joo-Dee. We have Joo-Dee in custody, but Lee disappeared around the time of the poisoning and hasn't been seen since."
Katara poured wine for Prince Zuko and then the Blind Bandit. Lee must have been the culprit, but under whose orders had he acted?
The servant fell at Prince Zuko's feet. His tears wet the hem of the prince's robe. "I am so sorry, Your Highness," he said. Prince Zuko kicked him away.
"Lee came here looking for help," said the Blind Bandit. The word around Caldera was that the Blind Bandit could help anyone in need. "I let him stay here until I could figure out what to do with him." 
"You madam, are harboring a murderer." Prince Zuko grabbed the Blind Bandit by the collar of her dress.
Lee's eyes were wide with fright. "It wasn't my fault. It was Joo-Dee's."
Prince Zuko let go of the Blind Bandit and allowed her to explain everything. The day of the picnic had been terribly hot and conditions in the pastry kitchen were unbearable. Joo-Doo pretended to swoon and Lee went to get her a cup of water and while he was away, she switched the currants for Mai's fruit tart with aconite berries.
"A Shini Clan retainer was in here a few days ago bragging about how he bribed Joo-Doo to switch the berries," said the Blind Bandit. "He spilled the whole thing while pounding into one of our girls." 
"The Shini...of course," said Katara. They would be at the top of the list of those who would want to destroy the Ukano Clan's chances of marrying into the Royal Family. 
Prince Zuko thanked the Blind Bandit for her help and promised Lee a pardon and passage back to the Earth Kingdom. He held the umbrella over himself and Katara as they left the Entertainment District.

Katara knelt on the veranda next to Mai, who was sharpening one of her beloved daggers with a wet stone. Mai trained with the Master of Blades twice weekly, and today, she had one of her lessons. Fire Nation noblewomen often received combat training. If they weren't firebenders, they studied archery, knife-fighting, or how to wield a polearm. Knife-fighting suited Mai, who was as sharp and elegant as one of her daggers. 
"Ty Lee told me Kei-Lo accompanied you to the training hall today," Katara said. She gave Mai a playful nudge. "You seem to send for him a lot."
The young guard followed Mai around like a loyal dog. His crush was so evident that Ty Lee dared them to kiss during a game of forfeits.
Mai rolled her eyes. "Don't tease me," she said. Her dagger slid back into its sheath, and she took out another one to sharpen it.
"I'm sorry." Katara put a hand on her friend's shoulder. Mai usually took the good-natured teasing common in the Lotus Villa whenever a girl had an admirer in stride. Why was she being especially gloomy today? "It's just that you and Kei-Lo look really cozy."
"Just like you and Prince Zuko?" Mai looked her straight in the eyes.
Katara turned away from Mai. A fat red and white carp disturbed her reflection in the lotus pond below. So Mai had learned about Katara visiting Prince Zuko's villa that afternoon. "Nothing's happening between us," she said. All she'd done was bring him a message that one of the Blind Bandit's agents had slipped her. That, and sneak off with him to the entertainment district.
It did sound suspicious when you thought about it.
"Please be honest with me." Mai rose to her feet. Her silk garments rustled. "Are you trying to make yourself Prince Zuko's mistress?"
Another carp, this time an orange one, made the surface of the pond ripple.
Before Katara could deny the accusation, Mai stopped her. "I'm not naive. I've heard what people say about me: that I'm too sickly and delicate to have healthy children and too frigid and boring to keep Prince Zuko happy. My only appeal is my family wealth and connections." Mai sighed. "A man's only ever kissed me because he was dared."
Katara wanted to argue that the dare had only given Kei-Lo the courage to do something he longed to do. But Mai wouldn't have listened to her.
Mai knelt and put a hand on Katara's shoulder. Katara squirmed. "Just be honest with me. Are you trying to make yourself Prince Zuko's mistress?" She took Katara's silence as an affirmation. "As I said, I'm not naive. If I do become Prince Zuko's wife, I don't expect him to be faithful to me and it's better if his mistress is a friend rather than an enemy. And you wouldn't be a threat to me."
This barb hit like one of Mai's daggers.
"It's not like that." Katara took Mai's hands. It would be best to tell her friend the truth. Well, not all of the truth.
Mai raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.
"Prince Zuko is trying to find out who poisoned you. I went to visit him today because I had a lead. Someone called the Blind Bandit gave me a note to give to him." Katara left out that she'd badgered Prince Zuko into letting her accompany him to the entertainment district to meet with the Blind Bandit.
Mai's face lit up and she demanded Katara tell her everything. No one loved court intrigue more than she did. Katara told her that the Blind Bandit had revealed that the Shini clan, the sworn enemies of Mai's family, had ordered her poisoning. They were jealous because Prince Zuko preferred Mai to the Shini clan's daughter.
"Those bitches," Mai spat.